Author:

László Arató (EUrologus)

The governments of Hungary and Poland are blocking a record-size EU budget package of 1.8 billion euros. These two countries are one of the biggest beneficiaries of the common budget.

Viktor Orbán said in a joint press conference with the Polish prime minister on Thursday (to which only selected media loyal to the government were invited, but even they could not ask questions),

So the next few months, in a way not unheard of in history, we will fight together again. “

From this, it can be concluded that he does not see any chance that the EU budget lockdown between Hungary and Poland will be resolved in the short term. And on Friday morning, Orbán said on Kossuth Radio that he did not want a compromise, but a solution; this also does not indicate a close solution to the problem.

Therefore, based on public data from the European Commission, we have compiled the amounts that Hungary and Poland risk if they do not have access to EU funds. Basically, both countries will be eligible in two ways if they do not threaten their own resources and those of all other countries with a veto. These are as follows:

  • The budget of the European Union for the next seven years amounts to 1,074 billion euros.
  • The EU Recovery Fund, financed with long-term bonds from the European Commission, has a total budget of 750 billion euros, of which 390 billion euros correspond to grants and 360 billion euros to loans.
  • Hungary and Poland agree on the size and distribution of both funds, they are blocked due to the conditions of the rule of law linked to future payments.

The seven-year budget

According to the compromise concluded by the June European Council summit, the amount of resources available to Hungary under cohesion policy (i.e. without agricultural subsidies) in the period 2021-2027 at 2018 prices would be approximately 19 EUR 900 million. (This is HUF 7.184 billion at the current euro exchange rate of around HUF 361 billion.) In terms of the internal distribution of the total cohesion endowment, approximately EUR 4.8 billion would come from the European Social Fund +, EUR 11.8 billion. from the European Regional Development Fund, and one billion from the Cohesion Fund. Poland’s share is 66.4 billion euros.

As regards the common agricultural policy, direct payments would amount to € 1.2 billion per year, for a total of around € 8.7 billion for the Hungarian countryside over the seven years of the next budget. Furthermore, Hungary could expect a grant of € 3 billion from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development. Thus, the total amount of the total envelope for agricultural policy would be 11.7 billion euros (4224 billion guilders), in the case of Poland 31.1 billion.

The Reconstruction Fund

In terms of NextGenerationEU’s budget, its largest program is the € 672.5 billion endowment from the Rehabilitation and Resilience Mechanism, including loans and grants, to support Member State investments and the implementation of reform measures. According to current calculations, Hungary may be eligible for a grant of EUR 6.2 billion (HUF 2,238 billion) out of the total non-reimbursable financial assistance of EUR 312.5 billion. In the case of Poland, it is about 23 billion euros.

The Fair Transition Mechanism, which is the cornerstone of the European Green Deal as the first pillar of the Fair Transition Mechanism, is a key objective to promote the social and economic transformation of regions in their efforts to achieve climate neutrality. According to the European Council decision, Hungary is entitled to use a total of 237 million euros (85.5 billion) from this fund, and Poland 3.5 billion.

The main objective of REACT-EU is to add new additional resources to the Cohesion Policy envelope of the 2014-2020 and 2021-2027 budgets with a budget of € 47.5 billion. Under the preliminary allocation, Hungary may be eligible for the use of subsidies worth about 834 million euros (301 billion guilders) in 2021, and the Poles for 1.556 billion euros.

In total, Hungary could request 38.8 billion euros (14 billion HUF) and Poland 125.5 billion euros from the common coffers.



The number of independent editorial boards of power is steadily declining, and those that still exist are trying to stay afloat in a growing headwind. At HVG we persevere, we do not give in to pressure and we bring national and international news every day.

That is why we ask you, our readers, to support us, support us, join our membership and renew it.

And we promise to keep doing our best for you in all circumstances!